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Thursday, 10 November 2011

Day 10 & How I Came To The Paleo Lifestyle

Hey guys,

Happy Day 10 for those of you joining me on this November clean eating challenge.

I hope it is going as well for you as it is for me. I have to say it has been fairly effortless so far. I am not really craving anything too badly, although I am looking forward to a glass of Pinot Grigio when I finish! I always give up drink for November (call it a detox, call it a subconscious effort to do good by my Catholic roots, who knows?!) But it is something I always do. I find the first week or two are usually fine and then I am looking forward to a night out! So far so good though!

The weather at the moment here is unseasonably warm and sunny, so I have been enjoying the weather and going out for long walks with my dog. We done 3 miles the past few days, and 2 on Monday. Tuesday I was active too, helping out with fairly manual work (loooong story).

How I came to the Paleo Lifestyle
I have been active for the past couple of years. I gave up smoking almost two years ago, and was fearful that I would gain weight so I got into running. I ran in a couple of 10K runs and a half marathon but I found that I wasn't a natural runner, and despite running for miles a week, I wasn't getting any faster and I wasn't loosing any weight. Although I looked more toned I knew I needed to loose a few pounds on the scale, but if I cut down on my calories I was exhausted and run down (pardon the pun!). Something wasn't adding up for me.
So I decided to look at my diet as I figured all this exercise was not seeing results, so I would have to look at my food.
I have always eaten "healthy". I always make meals from scratch for my partner and son, and we eat home prepared food the vast majority of the time. (We eat out seldom). I ate salads for lunch and home prepared dinners, rarely including sauces or anything processed during the week. Perhaps pizza at the weekend and a dessert on Sunday. But I was a slave to refined carbs, in particular bread and toast and pasta. I really believed I could never live without my toast!
I spent a few days inputting my daily food intakes into "Fitday.com" and soon realised I was eating far too many carbs. I worried about this as I was also a slave to "lowfat" eating so I did not know how I could drop the carbs and stay full.
I done some google searches and Paleo came up. I think it was actually Sarah Fragoso's "Everyday Paleo" that came up - and I liked the sound of it.
Eating real, unprocessed foods, low in refined carbs but including plenty of fat, protein and veggies. I bought Lorein Cordain's book "The Paleo Diet" and read it but I must admit I was fairly dubious about how I would manage without my bread and toast!
But here I am - almost four months later and more passionate than ever about my journey and doing my first Whole30!
If you are new to this I hope that you too are enjoying it so much you keep it up!

Anyway, enough talking rubbish!

The past 2 days have gone like so food wise:

Day 9
Breakfast:
Liver, bacon, spinach, tomato and onion
My first time eating liver since childhood - it was better than expected, but it might take me a while to love it!

Lunch: A Chicken Indian thing I threw together including spices, coconut milk and ground almonds. Tasted delish, but it didn't agree with me for some reason. Bad digestive issues afterwards. The spices??

Dinner: Minced Lamb Stew
Snacks: Apple
Exercise: 3 miles walk

Day 10
Breakfast: Bacon and Veg Omelette with avocado

Lunch: Smoked Paprika Chicken with Green Bean, Broccoli and tomato salad.
This was a little bland. I tried adding coconut milk as a dressing but it kept sliding off. I needed a dressing!

Ill finish with the following:
Remember - It is important to include exercise in your lifestyle - in particular light exercise like walking with occasional sprints is good. And lifting something heavy. I plan to do some lifting tomorrow. While in my opinion weight loss and a healthy lifestyle are as a result of roughly 80 diet 20 exercise ratio - so you should not use your seemingly easy weight-loss (if that is your aim) as an excuse NOT to exercise. Our Paleo ancestors were not sedentary so include exercise!

That is all for now!

Remember - you are 1/3 of the way there! Keep it up and keep it Paleo :)

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About Me

Hi all, thanks for visiting my blog! My name is Denise Keane and I am a qualified Nutritional Therapist, mother, wife and Paleo speaker. Real food is an important part of our family life and I am passionate about the effect of food on our health.
What is "Paleo"?
The Paleo diet is quite simply a modern version of the diet used by our ancestors. It is a simple, easy way to achieve weight loss and to prevent the development of certain diseases. It is based on eating
Lean Protein (e.g. beef, lamb, fresh fish, chicken)
Seasonal Fruit & Veg and
Healthy fats such as avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut oil, olive oil.
The diet is amazing. Regardless of weight loss or health goals you will feel so much better after adopting this lifestyle.
Imagine a diet where you can eat delicious healthy food as much as you like and still lose weight and look and feel better??! Book an appointment today for support and advice on adopting the Paleo lifestyle and finding health and happiness through food.
theirishpaleo@gmail.com